


Halloween

by evol_love



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Halloween, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 12:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evol_love/pseuds/evol_love
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone hangs out at Steven's house for Halloween. There's a lot of kissing and stuff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I was that fucking lazy in regards to a title. It shouldn't be surprising, seeing as I actually did start writing this in October and am now posting it in January. Whatever. Enjoy.

“Wow, it’s truly the end of an era,” Steven’s mom says.

“It’s time,” Gerard replies sadly. “We’re just getting too old to trick or treat.”

“Well, that’s very sensible of you. But you’re all still coming over here for Halloween, right?” Mrs. Meeks _lives_ for holiday parties.

“Yes, mom,” Steven answers. “You can go nuts with the food and everything. Charlie and I can help you give kids candy.”

“You honestly want Charlie near _kids_?” Gerard asks, and Steven kicks the back of his leg. “Ow! Jesus, _sorry_.” He looks over to the couch where Neil and Todd are watching a movie and Charlie is watching Steven. “Charlie, come talk to Steven’s mom and make your boyfriend stop beating me up to defend your honor.” 

“Steven only beats up people who deserve it,” Gerard mutters, but he honestly doesn’t mind Charlie much. He makes Steven ridiculously happy, which, as a best friend, is about as much as you can ask for.

“All right, I’m staying out of this one. I’ll leave you boys to do whatever it is kids do after school these days. You know where the snacks are,” Mrs. Meeks says, and leaves the teenagers in her living room. 

“What’s everyone going as for Halloween?” Gerard asks, his mouth full of cookies, because Steven’s mom was correct in her assumption that they knew where the snacks were. 

They all mumble something about how they don’t know yet until Charlie says, “If we aren’t getting free candy, what’s the point? I’m not even going outside. Why would I bother when I can be comfortable?” 

“Technically, you’ll probably steal candy from my house, so you’re still getting-”

“Not the point,” Charlie interrupts, and Steven raises an eyebrow like ‘did you seriously just cut me off?’ Charlie rolls his eyes and apologizes before continuing, “I’m going to wear sweatpants and I’m going to be happy.”

“You know not wearing a costume doesn’t make you special, Charlie,” Neil tries, but Charlie just gives him a Look until he relents. “Whatever. We’ll have fun without you.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They depart school on the 31st with Steven sitting shotgun in Charlie’s car (everyone else refuses to ride with them because they’re unbearable) and Chris, Knox, and Ginny in Gerard’s. Neil’s staying after because Gloria has French Club and Todd’s tutoring freshmen who don’t understand “Honors English” equals “writing.”

“Hey babe, your mom asked me to stop and buy more candy on the way, where should we stop?”

Steven isn’t sure how to respond--his mind is stuck somewhere between ‘babe’ and Charlie doing favors for his mom--but he manages to say “Just go to Walgreens, it’s cheap,” at last. 

Once inside, they go right to the center of the store where life-size ghouls and zombies hang from the ceiling and motion-detector graves give eerie mechanical cackles as they pass by. 

“This Halloween aisle used to scare the shit out of me,” Charlie confesses as he grabs a bag of miniature candy bars. Steven knows for a fact that the Halloween aisle _still_ scares the shit out of Charlie but he doesn’t say anything. They just head to the register.

The cashier eyes Charlie’s beret and asks “What are you supposed to be?” 

“This asshole’s boyfriend,” he answers easily, jerking his head towards Steven as he goes to pay.

“No, you’re being ridiculous, my mom asked you to buy it for my house, I should pay,” Steven tries.

“Absolutely not.”

“Charlie, don’t be an idiot.”

“Steven, if I want to buy your mom Halloween candy, I will buy your mom Halloween candy. Just relax. Some people might call it chivalry.”

“Oh fuck you,” Steven mumbles, but he lets Charlie pay.

“Happy Halloween,” says the now incredibly amused cashier. She grins at them.

“You too,” Steven says generously before turning to Charlie as they walk out of the store together. “Was that really the best you could come up with?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When that woman asked who you were?”

Charlie smirks then, understanding. “Well, is there someone you’d prefer I be?”

Steven sighs. “No, the boyfriend role’s a good one.”  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Steven had forgone dressing up for Halloween as well, partially out of solidarity and partially because Charlie sort of had a point. Charlie parks in the grass next to Steven's garage (Steven tuts at him, but Charlie insists that Steven's mom totally told him to park there so he wouldn’t block trick or treaters. Steven wonders when the fuck Charlie and his mom became bffs.)

“Are you ready to get our spook on?” Charlie asks, and Steven actually pauses on the sidewalk to stare at him in horror.

“I am seriously rethinking my whole life right now.”

“ _You_ made the decision to sleep with me,” Charlie points out.

“I know. And I regret it every day.”

But Charlie’s smile that he’s trying so hard to hide tells Steven that Charlie knows he’s lying. Charlie leans in and kisses him about two feet from the front door. Steven kisses him back without even a thought that his mom or, jesus, his _dad_ , could just look out the window and see them. He honestly could not care less if he tried. 

Okay, he cares a little bit.

“Charlie,” he says, pulling away and almost laughing when Charlie keeps moving with him and tries to steal another kiss. “Charlie, my parents are home.”

“I am literally at your house all the time. This may come as a shock to you, but they definitely know we’re dating. I think they would have run me out of town a long time ago if they cared,” Charlie says. His tone is impatient, and Steven would press him up against the house and just make out with him right here, but a.) neighbors and b.) the others aren’t far behind them and their friends already complain about how much PDA they witness daily. 

“That’s not how you use ‘literally,’” he says instead, and leaves Charlie behind, opening the front door and entering with a, “We’re home!”

They aren’t greeted by Steven’s mom, but rather by an overwhelming feast she’d set out on the kitchen table.

“Thank you Mrs. Steven’s Mom!” Charlie yells. “Seriously, your mom is the best,” he adds for Steven’s benefit, his eyes never leaving the mass of food collected before them. 

“You know how she gets when I’m having a lot of people over,” he says. Everyone likes coming to Steven’s house because Mrs. Meeks tends to “get bored” and “casually bake” an army’s worth of baked goods, and dinners are legendary. 

“Do I smell cake?” Gerard calls out as he opens the door without knocking. He never knocks. No one does. Steven wonders absently when his house became the teen hangout of this dumb 80s movie cliche, because he really never even expected to have friends. And now he has...well. Chris and Knox are walking into his house dressed as Dorothy and the scarecrow, Gerard and Ginny appear to be Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, and he's a little overwhelmed suddenly by how much he loves them all. 

"Happy Halloween, everyone," Mrs. Meeks says as she walks in to greet them all. The teenagers are talk over each other in reply and she smiles and gestures to the food and leaves them alone.

"So...are we watching a scary movie?" 

Charlie tenses, and Steven would laugh if he didn't want to sex with him ever again. "No, Charlie's a baby, so we're only doing G-rated things here."

"You two are never G-rated," Chris says far too loudly. 

"Oh, shut up, when was the last time you got laid?" Charlie asks, and Knox chokes on the pretzel he just bit into.

"Be nice," Steven warns, but he kisses him so Charlie knows he isn't actually mad. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------  
Neil shows up with Gloria and Todd an hour later, the three of them happily taking control of the food and eating about half the remaining “real food” and leaving them all with junk. which is fine, given the occasion. 

It isn’t until about halfway through Paranorman (“Uh this movie is definitely not for kids,” Charlie says as he sniffs and pretends he isn’t crying) that the doorbell rings for the first time.

“CODE RED THERE ARE CHILDREN,” Ginny yells out, as if they hadn’t all heard it, and Steven jumps up to grab candy for the kids. 

“Trick or treat!” they holler when he opens the door, Charlie at his side. There are three of them: one is Batman, one is some Disney princess that Steven doesn’t recognize, and one is a cat. 

“I like your costume,” Charlie tells the cat, who grins as he hands her a little too much candy.

“No picking favorites,” Steven whispers as the trio walks away, remembering to shout out a thank you at the end of the driveway when their watchful parents remind them. 

“She was a cat, Steven, I had to encourage that. Much more creative than the others.”

“Like you were never a superhero for Halloween.”

“Please,” Charlie sniffs. “I was a fucking princess.”

Steven shoves him and walks back into the house, flopping back down onto the sofa and snatching the popcorn from Knox. He and Chris are cuddling on the other end of the couch, looking ridiculously happy and perfect, and Neil and Todd are laying on the rug and holding hands like the lovestruck babies they are. 

“Guys, I’m trying to hear the movie,” Gerard whines.

“Only you, Gerard,” Steven says, stuffing his face with popcorn as Charlie sits down next to him and cuddles up against his side. “Charlie you’re going to get an elbow in the face if you do that,” he says, proving his point when he almost bruises his boyfriend as he goes for more popcorn. “See?”

“I love you,” Charlie replies kissing his cheek, and Steven blushes in spite of himself. 

“I love you too.”

The doorbell rings again, and it occurs to Steven that making himself comfortable really isn’t in the cards tonight as he gets up again to hand out candy. “Come on, you, let’s make some children happy,” he says, gesturing for Charlie to follow him. This time it’s Harry Potter, Captain America, a fairy princess, and, inexplicably, a hamburger. Charlie gives them all equal amounts of candy, and Steven rewards him by making out with him against the front door as soon as they close it. 

“Get a room!” Ginny hollers, throwing a handful of popcorn at them.

“This is my house Danbury, suck it.”

“No thanks, I don’t know where it’s been. Actually, I do. And. No.”

“It isn’t Halloween without dick jokes,” Mrs. Meeks says as she enters with more food.

“MOM,” Steven says sharply, pushing Charlie away and glaring at her. Charlie is laughing, damn him. Traitors, all of them. 

“I brought cookies,” she says, smiling at him like she isn’t the most embarrassing mother ever. 

He contemplates not taking any cookies as a show of his disapproval of her behavior, but it’s kind of hard to resist them if he’s honest. The doorbell rings again, and Steven’s mom rushes to the door to greet the kids. 

“Your mom is cool,” Gloria says approvingly. She’s got her feet in Neil’s lap as she leans against the couch, stealing food from everyone whenever she can. 

“Don’t let her hear you say that, I’m begging you.” 

“No, she’s right, I love your mom,” Charlie agrees, laying down on the couch, his feet in Chris’ lap. 

“That’s it, I have to dump you. This is some Stacey’s Mom shit.”

“Nah, babe, I would never sleep with your mom.”

“This is so gross oh my god we are not talking about this.”

“Does that mean you aren’t dumping me?” Charlie kisses him to make his point. 

“Ugh. Fine, I guess you can stay.”

“Let me make it up to you,” Charlie says, and Steven almost punches him in the face when his hands go for his fly. 

“Charlie if you try to blow me while my mother is in the room I will actually kill you, that is a promise.”

“I hate them so much,” Ginny groans, and Steven realizes they have an audience. 

“It wouldn’t even be a first,” Charlie protests.

“Shut up shut up shut up,” Steven hisses, because _people are listening dammit._ He is really not interested in telling _that_ story to the assembled party. He dares to glance over at his so-called friends and sees Gerard has raised an eyebrow and Knox is bright red. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“It’s worse,” Charlie grins, and he doesn’t have to be so smug about it, jesus. 

“Charlie we agreed never to talk about this. Ever.” 

“You can’t just lead us on with stuff like that and not tell the story,” Neil complains, and when the fuck did he get more interested in this conversation than in making gooey eyes at Todd? Steven needs new friends. Like, yesterday.

“Nope, we are not talking about this.”

“Aw, come on, it was funny,” Charlie says. 

“Charlie didn’t know what a prostate was before we were together!” Steven says in a final attempt to shut this down. Charlie’s jaw actually drops.

“Traitor,” he scowls.

“Oh my god,” Ginny is laughing so hard she looks like she’s having trouble breathing. Gerard is trying to calm her down, but he’s cracking up too. 

“Charlie, did you not take freshman health class?” Gerard asks. 

Charlie’s frowning at them all. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“No shit,” Neil says, chuckling under his breath. even _Todd_ is ducking his head to try to hide his amusement. 

“Fine. we’re not talking about this,” Charlie sighs, grabbing chocolate out of the candy bowl and eating it.

“That’s for the kids,” Steven says gently, but he grabs another one, unwraps it, and hands it to Charlie, who takes it.  


“Thanks.” He pulls Steven back to their spot on the sofa and they settle in after a moment of silently determining whose limbs go where.

“This movie is really sad,” Knox whispers loudly, and they nod in agreement. 

“Good, though. Better than I thought it’d be, anyway,” Chris says thoughtfully, snatching the popcorn bowl away from Ginny and Gerard. 

Everyone is absorbed in the claymation story of a little boy who can talk to spirits, but Steven is thinking (He’s been known to do that). He’s thinking about all the people in the room with him right now that, for all they’re embarrassing and ridiculous and obnoxious, he cares about more than anything in the world. And it’s probably really weird to be having some kind of epiphany on Halloween in your living room while your mom gives kids candy. But it just sort of hits Steven that he has so many people in his life, that he has the best friends in the world. It’s strange to think about a life that doesn’t include them, teasing, eating all his food, laughing and being loud and inappropriate in public. 

He’d better get used to the idea, though, because life is about to take over and separate them all for the first time in years. Ginny, Gerard, Chris, Knox, Gloria, Neil, Todd...all of them. He doesn’t even know what he’d be doing right now if it weren’t for them.

And Charlie...well. Steven doesn’t want to think about how different this night would be if he didn’t have Charlie to be silly and affectionate and adorable. 

Steven leans over and kisses Charlie, who perks up immediately and reciprocates. He’s smiling. 

“It’s kind of weird to think we’ll all be in different places next year, isn’t it?” Charlie asks, and Steven realizes maybe Charlie had been thinking along the same lines as him. 

“Yeah. It's not going to be the same without everyone.”

“It’ll be a lot quieter,” Charlie agrees. “But I’ll have you.” He looks up at Steven and looks so sure. And Steven thinks about how honestly fucked up and fucked over Charlie is and all the shit he’s done and been through, and to have Charlie here now, looking at him like that, is nothing short of a miracle. 

Steven’s mom finishes with the kids outside and tells them all she wants to take a picture of them. there’s a lot of groaning and eye rolling, particularly from Steven himself, but they clump together so they’ll all be in the frame as she directs them all. Charlie puts an arm around Steven and pulls him closer, kissing him on the cheek as he does so. 

As if the sound of that many teenagers in one room had summoned him, Steven’s dad walks in from the kitchen a minute later, grinning at them all. 

“That’s cute,” Mr. Meeks says, nodding towards Chris and Knox. “You all look great.” He frowns at Charlie and Steven. “Where’s the festivity here? What are you two supposed to be?” 

“In love,” Charlie answers, and goes for a proper kiss just as Steven’s mom takes the picture.

“Unbelievable.You two can’t even resist PDA for the sake of something I would actually allow myself to be tagged in on Facebook,” Gloria huffs. 

Steven’s ignoring them all at this point, though, because he’s completely head over heels for this dork. 

“You know, I might not mind leaving all of this noise behind if it’s just you and me,” Steven says speculatively. 

“I was just thinking the same thing.” He kisses Steven again, his hands pressing against Steven’s back, and there are a number of things Steven would like to do right now if it weren't for the present company. 

“Come to think of it, having no one I know around but you is fucking brilliant.” He looks up to make sure everyone is wrapped up in their own lives and definitely not paying attention to them. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Charlie grins and wiggles his eyebrows. “Trick or treat?” he asks, and it should not be nearly as hot as it is. 

“Come find out,” he answers, and pulls him into one last kiss before they disappear for the night.


End file.
